Etowah High students hear from one of the Lost Boys of Sudan

Thursday

Feb 27, 2014 at 5:35 PMFeb 27, 2014 at 5:38 PM

Sitting in a computer lab Thursday at Etowah High School, students likely had a hard time imagining the life Bul Mabil had as a child.

Sitting in a computer lab Thursday at Etowah High School, students likely had a hard time imagining the life Bul Mabil had as a child.Mabil was one of the Lost Boys of Sudan. Via Skype, he told students how as a 5-year-old, he and other children in the war-torn country walked hundreds of miles, without parental supervision. They survived on grass and little food, all the while looking out for possible wild animal attacks and trying to survive disease outbreaks.Mabil, along with thousands of young male Sudanese, was separated from his family in 1983, during the second Sudanese Civil War between Northern Sudan, which was Muslim, and predominantly Christian South Sudan.He told the students he didn’t remember much about his childhood, but does remember soldiers coming to his village and killing people during the war.“All I can remember was the time when the army of soldiers would come to the village,” Mabil said, “and they would come in the night or evening, and they would come and shoot people.” Mabil’s online visit was set up by Etowah teacher Jeff Johnson. The two became friends when Johnson’s cousin was Mabil’s roommate at Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss.Johnson said Mabil would come to family gatherings and it “was almost like he joined the family.”Johnson teaches 11th-grade history and said he thought studying and discussing the Lost Boys of Sudan would be a good opportunity during Black History Month to explore how migration from Africa is still going on.Mabil said his family kept cattle before the war.“That normal life was terrorized by the outbreak of the war,” he said.The boys were forced out of an unarmed refugee camp in Ethiopia when it was fired upon. They then had to make a four-month trek to Kenya in an effort to escape the war still raging in Sudan.“We had to survive eating grass, basically, and any food that we would find along the way,” Mabil said.The children tried to encourage each other, but many died along the way.“There wasn’t anything anyone could do,” Mabil said, “If someone was too weak to walk, then we would leave them.” Because the boys were so young, he said, they were unable to carry the weak ones.During their journeys, Mabil said, the boys also had to avoid being attacked by lions and other wild animals, including crocodiles while crossing rivers.A handout from Johnson said 27,000 boys survived the long walk. They formed small communities where they looked after each other, making huts and preparing food. They learned the alphabet by writing in the dirt.Mabil came to the U.S. as a teenager in 2000. About 3,800 of the Sudanese refugees were allowed to come to the U.S. beginning the previous year.Mabil became an American citizen, earned a master’s degree and now lives and works in Mississippi.His mother and sister live in Kenya, a brother lives in South Sudan and a brother and sister live in Australia.“We have been scattered by the war all over the place,” he said.Mabil said as a citizen, he is able to express his own opinions and “that is one of the greatest things every man should have.”He told the students that education is important and gave some career advice.“Having a high school diploma is an open door so I would say stay in school,” he said. “After you finish your high school, make sure you go to college. Try to figure out what you like and what you want to do in the future, and make sure that what you choose is something you will enjoy for the rest of your life — something that will make a difference in other people’s lives.” Mabil called back after the Skype session ended and proudly displayed his American citizenship documents. Students remarked how proud he was to be a U.S. citizen.Michael Gulledge, a junior, said he had never heard of the Lost Boys of Sudan before Johnson brought them up in class.“It seems like something that would happen way back when,” he said. “It just seems like it shouldn’t happen nowadays.”Jalan Williams, a junior, said he enjoyed the program and had never talked to anyone from Africa.He said it showed that Americans should cherish their citizenship.“He cherishes his a lot,” Williams said. “It shows how grateful we need to be.”

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